


lifeblood

by folkvangr (lusteralliance)



Category: Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Crying, Gen, I LIKE HIM A LOT, Parent-Child Relationship, Wounds, im emo man..., ive been reading up on him and man he's just he's such a good character, let him be happy, mr father.. please let him be the first red bow, rath in feh when
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 03:57:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21349858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lusteralliance/pseuds/folkvangr
Summary: “then...how come you do not cry?”“i am a warrior, child.” rath smiled, briefly. “warriors do not cry.”
Relationships: Rath & Sue (Fire Emblem)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	lifeblood

**Author's Note:**

> sue: is baby
> 
> rath, choked up: just take everything i have

his daughter stared at his wound as he cleaned it, wincing whenever he pulled the bandages too tightly over the gash.

“does it hurt?” sue asked, in a small voice. 

“yes,” rath replied, not looking up from his work. the little girl was sitting on his knee, holding a bottle of ointment against her chest. she looked up at her father, her pine green eyes wide. she was not old enough to see so much blood, but there was no helping it. rath had dragged himself home from an unsuccessful hunt, his bow rendered useless when a stag had gored his arm.

“why do not you cry?”

rath glanced up from his wound, and he did not smile. “i learned not to.”

sue looked upset at that, and she crossed her legs carefully, placing rath’s bottle of ointment on her lap and taking her father’s hand. it was much larger than hers, and she often liked to trace the scars and callouses that formed on his palms and fingertips.

“it’s okay to cry,” she whispered, and rath closed his uninjured hand around his daughter’s. “i will not be mad.”

rath shook his head, leaning down to kiss the child’s soft, dark hair.

“thank you, little one. but i have stopped crying many years before you were brought into the world; it is simply a habit now.”

sue’s toes wiggled on the hem of rath’s maroon tunic, and she bit her lip in childish contemplation. then, she breathed, “papa?”

“yes?”

“will you teach me not to cry?”

rath raised an eyebrow, relaxing his injured arm and letting it rest at his side. 

“what do you mean, child?”

sue lifted one of her small hands and nibbled at one of her nails. “um…” rath took the hand she was chewing on and placed it back on her lap. he used to bite his nails when he was young, too, but it had gotten him in trouble. “i cry lots...when i trip, i cry, and when you are hurt, i cry, too. crying is not good...that’s why you stopped, right?”

rath shook his head again, this time resting his hand against the back of the child’s head. “no, darling. crying is not bad. it means you are growing, and feeling...you mustn’t learn to stop, or else you will lose your humanity.”

sue stared at her father, and rath stared back.

“then...how come you do not cry?”

“i am a warrior, child.” rath smiled, briefly. “warriors do not cry.”

sue nodded slowly, then threw her arms around her father’s neck indignantly and nearly dropped rath’s bottle of ointment. the man caught it before it tumbled off the bed, and he placed it beside his roll of bandages before wrapping his own arms around his daughter.

“i want to be a warrior, too! i will not cry if you will not cry,” sue announced into rath’s cheek. rath closed his eyes, resting his face against his child’s small shoulder. “i want to be like papa. so if papa does not cry, then neither will i.”

rath squeezed sue’s arms, and the little girl squeaked in shock. “papa! that hurts!” the kutolah warrior let go of his daughter, then hugged her close again. “eep! let go!”

rath did not say anything. sue kicked at him, giggling. “you are holding me so tightly you are shaking!”

“sue.” rath’s voice broke with a faint sob. “please….”

sue stilled, and rath let out a trembling sigh as his daughter’s sleeve was darkened to scarlet when it drank up his tears. he had not cried for decades, and now, it felt as if his lifeblood was pouring out of him.

“oh,” sue mewled, and she snuggled into her father’s chest. “papa is crying.”

the plains were quiet that evening; the forest beyond was hushed, with only the chirping of the grasshoppers disturbing the silence. in the small village where he was a father and son, a dauntless warrior, a hero, rath cried just as quietly as the lands beyond home in his tiny daughter’s arms.


End file.
